Macquarie Airports has won the bid to acquire 70% of Brussels International Airport Company (BIAC) for EUR735 million, Belgian Minister for State-Owned Companies Johan Vande Lanotte said yesterday.
Mexico is considering levying an additional tax on airline passengers for the use of the country's airspace, warned the CEO of a domestic carrier last week. Aviasca CEO Eduardo Morales-Mega told industry that the government is about to collect a new tax from airline passengers and others for "the use and enjoyment of Mexico's air space," according to Mexican wire reports.
Mesa posted double-digit growth in its revenue passenger miles (RPMs) for October, and boosted its load factor. RPMs grew 51% to 485 million miles from 320 million in October 2003. Seat miles increased 40% to 674 million from 498 million. Mesa's 71.8% load factor was five points higher than the 66.7% posted last October.
The former United maintenance center in Indianapolis named another tenant after AAR reached a deal with Indianapolis Airport this year to lease 10 hangars at the facility (DAILY, June 21).
Aloha Airlines parent Aloha Airgroup Inc. named David Banmiller president and CEO of Aloha Airgroup and Aloha Airlines, effective Nov. 14. Aviation Protection Systems, Inc. appointed Robert Heber VP-flight operations.
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation last week finalized Chautauqua's authority to fly larger planes, validating oral confirmation it gave the carrier last month (DAILY, Oct. 27).
Guatemala-based Tikal Jets Airways requested rights from El Salvador's civil aviation authority (AAC) to operate to Comalapa Airport-- with Ilopango as alternate -- in El Salvador on its routes linking Guatemala with San Pedro Sula in Honduras and Managua in Nicaragua.
Delta's 75.3% on-time arrival rate in the third quarter is the worst of the 19 carriers the U.S. Transportation Dept. tracks. Some delays may be due to the hurricanes and bad weather between July and September; however, AirTran, which also has a hub in Atlanta, ranks 10th with 77.6% of flights arriving on time. Of the major airlines, United has the most on-time flights.
To offset spiraling fuel costs, Colombia's civil aviation department, Aerocivil, upped fuel surcharges for domestic and international fares and cargo rates, but said the cargo surcharge is not compulsory because of the strategic importance of international trade.
ExpressJet's field services arm plans to start ground-handling for America West in Memphis on Nov. 16. Carrier CEO Jim Ream says the deal should generate about $60,000 in additional revenue.
The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) says its airline charges will drop 3.8% next year. The NATS charge will be GBP48.47 ($89.84) per chargeable service unit (CSU) next year, compared with GBP50.36 per CSU this year. CSUs are calculated from the distance flown in controlled airspace and aircraft weight. This charge makes up part of the national unit rate that airlines pay, along with Transportation Dept. and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) levies. The proposed national unit rate will be GBP56.35, compared with GBP57.94 this year.
United plans to go back to its unions for another round of labor concessions, as the carrier acknowledged it needs to cut a total $2 billion to exit bankruptcy and compete with low-cost carriers.
World Airways reported its seventh consecutive profitable quarter last week as its $13.8 million operating profit beat predictions. Guidance from the carrier predicted a third-quarter operating profit of $11 million-$13 million, but this was eclipsed due to lower-than-projected maintenance costs. For the first nine months of the year, World's operating profit of $31.8 million was up 49% from last year.
Northwest's pilots on Friday, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, overwhelmingly approved a new two-year contract that will cut their pay by 15% and provides an important first step for the airline, which needs to cut its costs to compete.
Falling earnings at CAE's marine control unit caused the company's second-quarter 2005 profit to dip, but the sale of that unit should strengthen the company's profitability in the future. The Canadian flight simulator manufacturer signed a deal with L-3 last week for the sale of its marine controls business, which netted C$328 million (US$273 million) -- C$276 million (US$229 million) in cash and C$52 million (US$43 million) in debt.
Mexican air traffic control organization SENEAM has selected Thales to install a new ATC system, an important milestone in SENEAM's sweeping modernization program. Under the contract, Thales will supply a fully integrated Eurocat system at area control centers in Mexico City, Merida, Monterrey and Mazatlan, and terminal control facilities will be added at nine sites. The contract value was not released.
British Airways plans to suspend flights from London to Bogota and Caracas in February because the routes continue to lose money. The decision is based on "purely commercial reasons as these flights have been making a considerable loss over the last five years," said Robin Hayes, executive VP-Americas. "We operate in a highly competitive market and cannot afford to sustain these losses any longer." She noted that passenger numbers are up, but yields and revenues have not increased. The last flight will operate Feb. 6. -SL
United is training 19 recalled pilots, all of whom will be stationed as Airbus A320 first officers in Los Angeles or San Francisco. This is the first group of the 40 recalls United announced late this summer. The remaining group will start training Nov. 29. Both classes will learn about new security procedures and "customer focus training."
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft leased three 64-seat ATPs to Greece air taxi and charter carrier Euroair. The carrier has taken delivery of the first twin-engine turboprop plane, and plans to fly it on charter routes within Greece; it is also considering using the plane on other flights throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Middle East. Deliveries of the last two ATPs are scheduled over the next few months.
Malaysia Airlines plans to boost its current three weekly Boeing 777-200 Stockholm-New York flights to daily service. Managing Director Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan says the increase will be made in stages. He said the route provided a passenger feed for the airline, much like the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-New York route, which the carrier stopped operating Oct. 31. "MAS currently has a high passenger load of 80% to New York. We reckon it would be higher during the peak season," Ahmad noted.
Frontier flight attendants are launching another effort to form a union under the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), and organizers say they will have enough authorization cards within a few weeks to ask for a vote. The campaign, launched today, marks the fourth time a group of Frontier attendants has tried to form a union. The last vote was held two years ago, with the union move rejected by only 11 votes out of more than 400. Now Frontier has nearly 800 flight attendants.
